DeKalb County is moving to create a land bank of foreclosed property and prime it for redevelopment. The bank could help put vacant homes and unused commercial properties into the hands of neighborhood associations or developers, clearing the way for new uses.

DeKalb had the third-highest number of foreclosures in the state over the past two years. The effect has been a 13 percent drop in property values countywide, and neighborhoods pockmarked by empty homes.

“The empty houses, it’s endemic,” said Maria Rossoto, a public health writer who is part of a Belvedere Park initiative to encourage more healthy lifestyles in central DeKalb. “If you’re walking down the street and half the lots are vacant or foreclosed or overgrown, you can’t exactly focus on trying to exercise.”